BRITISH FOREST TREES 



229 



till about the thirtieth to fortieth year, yielding crops far 

 in excess of any other species of coppice, and especially 

 prized for the manufacture of cigar-boxes. 



(irebe 1 gives the following as the average out-turn from 

 alder coppice : 



On good soil each stool bears two to three dominating 

 shoots that ultimately form part of the mature crop ; with 

 their smooth stiaight stems these have far more the appear- 

 ance of young high forest than of mere coppice. Where the 

 demand for wood simply extends to the smaller assortments 

 for cigar-boxes, a rotation of twenty-five to thirty years is 

 ample, but where good soil and a fair market for larger 

 dimensions of timber exist, the fall may be extended to 

 forty to fifty years without jeopardizing the reproductive 

 capacity of the stools. On sandy soils with only a poor 

 admixture of loam, the period of rotation should not in 

 general exceed twenty years ; for although the growth of the 

 shoots is rapid at first, yet it soon falls off, and the rege- 

 nerative power of the root-system and the stool at the same 

 time diminishes, as may be noted in localities subject to 

 inundation during winter and spring, but liable to dry up in 



1 Die Bctriebs- titut Etragsregcluug der Forste, 2nd edition, 1879, 

 p. 103. 



